Precaution dose coverage in the State has gone up considerably over the last ten days after the centre rolled out the 75-day free vaccination campaign to mark 75 years of India’s independence.
In the 18-59 years age group, the precaution dose (third dose) coverage has gone up from 3.4% last month to 4.8% as of Tuesday. In the senior citizens category, nearly three lakh senior citizens have been covered since July 16, when the campaign was launched. With this, 44% of the targeted 68,87,194 senior citizens have been administered the third dose so far.
The Centre rolled out precaution dose administration for senior citizens across the country on January 10 and for those in the 18-59 age group on April 10. The response was very poor with hardly 20,000 people taking the third dose daily. However, over the last ten days following the roll out of the Centre’s Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav COVID vaccine campaign (that will go on till September 30), over one lakh precaution doses have been administered daily. Overall, the State has administered 14,74,576 precaution doses including 11,88,041 doses in the 18-59 years group, according to official data.
Duration reduced
“With the duration between two doses having been reduced from nine months to six months, the number of people eligible for the precaution dose has also gone up. Hence, the percentage of coverage may not show the extent of increase in administration of doses. We have administered nearly 15 lakh precaution doses since July 16,” Arundathi Chandrashekar, State Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), told The Hindu on Tuesday.
“Earlier, the third dose was free only for senior citizens in government hospitals. Besides, vaccines were not available in all private facilities. However, now, with easy and free availability of the vaccine in government hospitals for people of all age groups, the daily coverage has seen a considerable improvement,” she said.
12 districts above average
As of July 26, the State had a target population of 68,87,194 in the senior citizens’ category and 3,18,52,100 in the 18-59 age group, due for the precaution dose. According to data from the Co-WIN portal shared by the State Health Department, the coverage in 12 districts is above the State average in both the senior citizens and 18-59 years age groups.
In the senior citizens’ category, while the highest coverage is in Ramanagara where 75% of the target population has been covered, the lowest is in Tumakuru that has 25% coverage. In Bengaluru Urban district, inclusive of BBMP, the coverage so far has been 42%. While Hassan, Kolar and Chitradurga have a coverage of above 60%, Udupi, Mandya and Chanarajanagar are inching towards 60%.
From a poor response last month (wherein 13 districts recorded zero coverage and an equal number of districts recording less than 1% coverage) in the 18-59 years group, the coverage has increased considerably over the last ten days. As of Tuesday, just one district recorded below 1% in the group.
The coverage has been below the State average of 4.8% in 19 districts. While the lowest coverage is in Gadag at 0.9%, Yadgir recorded the highest coverage at 8.3%. Besides, Kolar, Mysuru, Hassan, VIJayanagara and Bengaluru Urban have recorded coverage above 6%. Bengaluru Urban has achieved a coverage of 7.8%.
Dr Chandrashekar said district-wise micro plans have been prepared for the campaign. “We are conducting workplace vaccinations at IT companies, industries, government offices, etc. along with Har Ghar Dasthak by visiting door to door and Lasika melas every Wednesday,” she said.
